Hell, when choosing that horny emoticon I just lost a bunch of youtube clips and a very long post. How dastardly. I didn't choose track names with Lucifer in it, so no Coven, Alan Parsons Project, or Writing on the Wall [etc.].

These are all albums that are in my collection (I may well have forgotten some). Feel free to mention others.

Multiple votes enabled if choosing is too devilishly difficult. I choose the first four (if I had to choose just one, then Christian Lucifer, but I love each of those four, so four votes from me).

EDIT: Decided to add Kenny Barron's Lucifer to the list following the recommendation.

As I said, "I didn't choose track names with Lucifer in it, so no Coven,
Alan Parsons Project, or Writing on the Wall", but perhaps I will do a
tracks one anon in General Music Discussions. That is a really good
track though, Aussie-Byrd-Brother, and didn't know it, so i appreciate
you bringing it to my attention. Thanks. I hope you'll like some of
the music from the albums I listed. And I do hope to discover some
good, or should that be bad? (Big Gun is kind of bad), music out of
this.

By the way, have you heard the Writing on the Wall one I
mentioned, I think that's a good one that you might like. Lucifer Sam
and APPs Lucifer are good ones too.

By
the way, before anyone thinks they recognise a bloody blood brother due
to the title of this poll, or tries to turn me from the dark side, I'm
not a Satanist.

I added the blank options for albums I forgot (something I explained in the long post that I sadly lost, and the other option for albums or band with the name Lucifer in it)). It's kind of a lame formula for a poll, I know, but I really like those first four albums I mentioned in the poll.

I know there are fans of various albums here, so I hope to hear from them soon, and hopefully there will be some converts to some albums in the poll.

No worries, Logan! That `Dragon' one is actually a great little album, I'm sure you picked up on the pretty woeful vocals - they always make me smile, though!

From your list, I could have voted for that Mort Garson album `Black Mass Lucifer', as I do own a vinyl LP copy of it, but I simply haven't listened to it in so many years, and I don't remember a note of it. I've just transferred it to my computer and onto my Ipod, so I'll give it another spin on the way into work today.

In case anyone is a little alarmed, the album is actually an eerie electronic album, not an actual recording of a black mass! You're talking to someone raised super-strict Christian here, and I haven't fallen THAT far!

Black mass is a great album, I think (noticed I cut-off the last two
letters of that in the poll). Lucifer's Dream is not at all Satanist or
creepy (I think it's an underrated and under known) Krautrock album.
Christian Lucifer I play with my very Christian wife, and with my kids,
in the car. It's a wonderful psychedelic folk album that was recorded
in 1973 but material was not released until much later -- scavenged from
some tapes at a since sold studio.. Bobby Beausoleil is a creepy
character, a convicted murdered and associate of the Charles Manson
"family", also appeared in a softcore porn, and that is the soundtrack
for a Kenneth Anger film (Anger refutes claims that he is a Satanist).

By
the way, I was originally going to do this as a Christ (and
derivatives) and Lucifer poll (but other than Christian Vander, which
isn't topically so relevant, I wasn't sure how much PA music I had with
the words Christ or Christian in it). Off-topic: Love to discover some
more acid folk Christian music. This has long been on my wishlist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPLGN03OWJg

I've never heard Lucifer Was. How would you describe the music? YouTube links, if available, would be appreciated. That gets us listening to and hopefully appreciating each others music interests, which is what I like with music topics. I have seen the name, by the way. Is it a metal band?

EDIT: I looked into it. There is lots of youtube music available. I would think you might like Lucifer's Friend based on what I heard of the début from Lucifer Was. Being in Eclectic Prog, though, I guess Lucifer Was has covered a range of styles throughout their career. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Attack.

OK, so I managed to listen to all of the Mort Garson `Black Mass Lucifer' album again....So for those who haven't heard the album, essentially the only way to describe it:

It sounds like a bunch of aliens/demons took control of late 70's Tangerine Dream and got them to record a seriously schizophrenic and bent eerie electronic soundtrack to a 70's porno film set in outer space....

Salty: Glad to hear of another here that thinks that Lucifer's Dream is a good album.

It's interesting to compare these two reviews of the album:

Review by
RivertreeSPECIAL COLLABORATORPsych/Space Team & Band Submissions

Ralf Nowy was a flute and saxophone player who died in 2007. Due to his classical education and
proficiency he got jobs as a musical director and production manager already at an early age. And
later he had a very successful carreer as a music producer for several popular acts. Obviously
impressed and influenced by the creative spirit of the music scene in Germany around the transition
from the 60s to the 70s he also began to produce music under his own moniker. 'Lucifer's Dream' was
his first effort in 1973 where he gathered a bunch of musicans from the current Munich scene to
realize his ideas. The result is an interesting jazz rock/pop/ethno mixture which is off the beaten
path here and there.

If you are familiar with the short-lived band 'Vita Nova' you will immediately recognize Sylvester
Levay's touch, his style playing piano on the opening Breadhead - this a a dynamic song with
changing time signatures. Besides the dominant jazz rock behaviour we have a charming interlude here
with acoustic guitar, flute and piano. Dramatic string arrangements are added. An extraordinary
track! With respect I have to notice that Ralf Nowy doesn't push himself into the foreground with
his instruments. The following title song has much more of a sophisticated jazz pop song. Relaxed -
mellow flute and saxophone and some great guitar contributions.

Amon Düül 2 bassist Lothar Meid is surprisingly involved here. Guitarist Paul Vincent, who had some
wild times when extensively touring with Missus Beastly around 1970, is responsible for some slight
psychedelic moments. But you won't find weird or experimental impressions. This is strictly arranged
and orchestrated music. Something's Happened On The Chicken Farm for example could be
suitable as a theme song for a television series. This album is a professional production without a
doubt, however I can't find anything exciting in the following songs. The oriental flavoured
Shiwa's Dance with suitar, tabla and string arrangements is nothing spectacular and seems
misplaced. Tschad has a nice drive forced by diverse percussion instruments and flute.

Produced with the new quadraphonic sound 'Lucifer's Dream' is a pleasant album made by prolific
musicians, however provided with a minimal prog proportion. As for that it foreshadows Ralf Nowy's
career as a pop producer and can only be recommended to universal collectors of the German music
history.

Back in the early 70s the German scene was like a bad porn-flick where everybody was doing it
together on different albums, occasions and in a whirlwind of musical directions. What this ultimately
lead to was a deeper understanding of what made the different expressions cook and flow - sear and
levitate. It's why a guy like Klaus Schulze was just as amazing in a psychedelic drum freak out as he
was behind huge refrigerator-like instruments turning knobs - or maybe acting as head honcho behind a
Japanese psych band at the other end of the planet. In many ways this is what characterised a lot of
the well-respected musicians back then - and to some extent that's what was essential inside many
artistic movements at the time. Movie making echoed this thing - where you'd find people doing
photography one day and then having to be in charge of the lighting the next. People needed to keep
their fingers on the pulse and know their way around their respective craftsmanship in order to deliver
something corresponding to whatever intangible feel, essence or zeitgeist was on the menu. I think this
frolicking around in strange bushes and corners of the different musics made the people playing it so
much more versatile and open minded. Sure, this was happening back in the 60s, when rock n' roll
suddenly began to steal the jazz players away from their home turf, but when Krautrock really started to
unfold its wings - an emphasis on experimentalism saw the light of day that challenged the players to
go outside of their comfort zones - adapt or indeed metamorphose.

Lucifer's Dream is a testimony to all of this, not because I consider it to be representative of Krautrock
in any way, shape or form, because I don't, - no, because it features a giant smorgasbord of talented
musicians coming from all over the scene - all of them attuned into a merged sonic effort revolving
around one saxophonist named Ralf Nowy. Both bassist Lothar Meid and sitarist Al Gromer came from
Amon Düül ll prior to this stint - whereas Sylvester Levay, here providing some dreamy piano, had
played opposite Eddie Maron in the Krautfusion band Dzyan. In short: a lot of these people had played
around in all kinds of constellations touching on jazz, folk, British invasion rock and something
altogether different. On here the waters coalesced into one beautiful almost symphonic album.

Ralf Nowy actually started out as a bit of a free jazz dabbler - playing flute and sax in various jazz
groups all through the 60s. He was even awarded with a prize for best soloist at the Berlin Jazz Festival
in 1963. What then struck this listener as something rather bizarre, is how he proceeded with his career
later on. Nowy is today widely known in Germany for his jingle skills and pop music know how - and
what to do with any piece of music in order to make it easier to digest for the masses. Somewhere in
between these two extremes Lucifer's Dream came into fruition, and knowing whereto this man's path
would turn, it suddenly makes perfect sense to this listener how he managed to make something as
audacious and experimental as this sound so fluid and easy going. A tremendous feat.

What this album reminds me the most of is actually Camel's The Snowgoose. Yup - believe it or not.
The way the slick and understated funky fusion of this album reaches up for the skies and resembles
symphonic music much like you'd hear on Camel's now (in)famous record, is damn near uncanny. It's
not even fusion, for that it is far too smooth and serene. Packed full of melody and huge musical whiffs
of fresh air and swaying textures, this sonic vessel floats through your living room like an elegant woman
swooping around in a big Toulouse Lautrec costume. Sometimes the feel of this thing almost
approaches femininity. There's a lightness about it, that you forget where its roots started. This is
indeed highly experimental musicians working together to give to you something beautiful and luscious.
The focus is firmly held on the sprawling melodies with occasional warm saxophone interventions
colouring the music red and sensuous. You wouldn't believe that dear old Ralf came from a world of
zany off-beat jazz adventures, when you hear Lucifer's Dream. It is much too elegant and well
orchestrated for that to ring true.

The one thing pointing towards Krautrock, as I know it, is the Indian work out that suddenly appears with
the track Shiva's Dance. Shiva is of course the Hindu god of destruction and in tune with the album's
increasingly cathartic development, this track now takes the listener into a musical world that takes on
the mad meeting of Indiana Jones and the temple of doom, where evil liquids turn good men into slaves
of darkness, and all of these twirling images of blood and flames explode in a fiery musical meeting of
sitars, tablas and assorted percussions sounding like they're played by horses' hooves.

Otherwise this album is the German equivalent of the smooth and serene beauty of The Snowgoose -
captivating its audience with warm high soaring melodies and a riveting fusion twist that lies somewhere
on the outskirts of the recording keeping the beat wonderfully funky and fluid all at the same time.

Aussie: Sounds like a fair description of Black Mass to me, though I must admit that I never thought of it quite that way. Perhaps I haven't watched enough 70s porno films set in outer space to completely relate.

Saper: I have heard some of The Christ Tree before; great music! The All Saved one is neat too, and new to me..

I actually noticed Kenny Barron's Lucifer on youtube when I was searching for some of the vids, but I hadn't listened to much and would have completely forgotten about it had you you not mentioned it. I checked out more, and it's good. Thanks.

Sagi: I'm surprised that you are the first to vote for it. By the way, that was the first of these albums in this poll that I heard (the best known of them to rock audiences, I would have thought). I thought it would have quite a few votes by now.

EDIT: for Mellotron Storm since John came in while I was composing my post; glad to see some more votes for those albums. I do hope you get the chance to check out those clips from Leopold and Nowy as I 'd love to hear your impressions of the music.

I know a lot of people don't seem to like to listen to youtube clips which is why hardly anybody ever comments on them. I guess part of it is that the sound quality isn't great. I'm always hoping that someone will discover something that appeals thanks to such polls and that the embedded videos will help.

If
you were being serious, as I said twice, I did not include tracks with
the name Lucifer in it. I do have Piper at the Gates of Dawn, so if I
do do a Lucifer tracks poll at some time, as I said I might do anon, then I would include it.

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